Endorsement: State Journal-Register endorses Dick Durbin for U.S. Senate

Friday

Oct 31, 2008 at 12:01 AMOct 31, 2008 at 6:12 AM

In October 2002, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., was one of only 23 U.S. senators to vote against authorizing President Bush to go to war in Iraq.

In October 2002, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., was one of only 23 U.S. senators to vote against authorizing President Bush to go to war in Iraq.

At the time, Durbin faced re-election, and while he did not run against a well-funded opponent, the country’s mood was jingoistic and strongly in favor of toppling Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. “Yes,” was the safe vote, but Durbin did not cast it.

In a speech he gave to the Senate on Oct. 10, 2002, Durbin correctly predicted that the war in Iraq would drain resources from the true war on terrorism occurring in Afghanistan. He said pre-emptive war was a major departure from this country’s principles and warned of the consequences.

Giving the United Nations time to prove that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, Durbin said, would help rally an international coalition that would share the task and the cost.

We mention this prescience because it shows Durbin’s deep knowledge and thoughtful, principled way of leading. We strongly urge his re-election on Tuesday.

Despite the many responsibilities of being the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, Durbin does not forget his state or his hometown of Springfield. He has brought home millions of dollars in projects, money we might not see if his Republican opponent, physician Steve Sauerberg, is elected.

The truth, of course, is more complicated. If Congress slashed every earmark from the federal budget, it would not cause a ripple in the ocean of red ink this country faces. One person’s pork is a project that will bring jobs and opportunity for others. Such spending can and often does pay for itself in the form of new tax revenue.

Sauerberg refers to such projects as “wasteful spending for his special interest friends.” These projects, which Durbin has helped fund, don’t seem wasteful to us:

--A federal grant to ensure the Interurban Bike Trail stays put after MacArthur Boulevard is extended. The trail is an essential recreational, environmental and transportation asset to our region.

--Millions in federal dollars for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, an asset that will pay dividends downtown for decades to come.

--$7 million for the extension of 11th Street. The connection will link the University of Illinois at Springfield to the rest of the city and spur economic development along its path.

Sauerberg pulls pages from the handbook of what’s politically fashionable. He would have voted “no” on the government’s economic rescue plan and pushed free market solutions and pledges to serve only two terms if elected. He should ask Rep. John Shimkus how that kind of promise turns out.

Sauerberg also had the temerity to attack Durbin, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, for not disclosing secret information that the senator found questionable in the lead up to the Iraq war. This alone makes us question whether the doctor has the judgment to be in the Senate.

Sauerberg and others continue to resort to tired, stale criticism of Durbin’s 2005 comparison of the torture at Guantanamo Bay to what happened in Nazi and Soviet prisons.

As is nearly always the case when the Nazis are brought into a discussion not involving mass murder, Durbin used a blunt rhetoric when precision is called for, and he apologized appropriately.

But what truly riled people was that Durbin pointed out that our government’s torture of detainees disgraced us, a country that is a beacon of freedom to the rest of the world.

A lot of Americans don’t like to hear their country isn’t perfect, that it can do better. Dick Durbin had the courage to say so. It makes him all that much more deserving of your vote.

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